The Costs of Surrogacy: What You Need to Know

1. What Is Surrogate Motherhood?
2. Surrogacy Is a Long-Term Project
3. Cost of Surrogacy: from General to Specific
4. How Much Does a Surrogate Mother Cost
5. How Much Does Surrogacy with a Guaranteed Birth Cost

How the surrogacy program works, what the total cost of surrogacy is, the cost of the surrogate mother services ― these are the common questions of people who can’t become parents naturally. This article contains all the information that future parents need: the average cost of surrogacy, the cost of a surrogate mother, advice on optimizing expenses on surrogacy and other important information.

What Is Surrogate Motherhood?

Surrogate motherhood (SM) is a procedure where a woman carries a baby for a couple or an individual parent who has a medical certificate stating that she is unable to carry a pregnancy on her own (in the case of same-sex couples, due to the objective impossibility of conceiving and carrying a child on their own).

There is no genetic link between a gestational carrier and the child she is carrying: the embryo is created from the eggs and sperm of the intended parents, a program involving a surrogate mother and an egg donor, or the eggs of the intended mother and donor sperm are used.

Payment for surrogacy services is expected to be in the form of a fee (in countries where commercial surrogacy is legal) or reimbursement of expenses (in countries where only altruistic surrogacy is legal).

Surrogacy Is a Long-Term Project

The first thing that future parents can do to help themselves at the stage of planning their reproductive journey is to get rid of illusions. Of course, every person suffering from infertility wants everything to develop according to the ideal scenario: contacting a reproductive clinic, examination, creating an embryo, IVF with a surrogate mother, gestation and delivery ― everything as with natural conception, but with a surrogate mother. Of course, this can happen, but you should accept another reality: sometimes something can go wrong at any stage of the process, and your reproductive journey will last longer than 12 months.

Sometimes issues may arise at the stage of creating a healthy embryo suitable for implantation. And since the quality of the embryo is one of the key factors in ensuring the success of IVF, the parents-to-be may be asked to consider using donor eggs or sperm. The surrogate mother’s pregnancy may be interrupted, like any pregnancy. Or, after several unsuccessful embryo transfers, the parents-to-be will have to replace the surrogate mother. All of these issues inevitably affect the cost of surrogacy in each individual case.

We recommend turning to the support of your loved ones, as well as visiting a reproductive psychologist, to have the resources to fight for your parental happiness. You should also prepare for the impressive costs of surrogacy:

• considerable cost of surrogacy; 
• impressive cost of a surrogate mother; 
• payment for surrogacy services associated with the subsequent legalization of the newborn. 

All these require a thorough analysis as well as creation of a cost optimization plan. Let's consider cost optimization of surrogacy.

Cost of Surrogacy: from General to Specific

There is no single correct answer to the question "How much does surrogacy cost?" The price of a reproductive program varies not only from country to country, but also from clinic to clinic. However, the average cost of surrogacy as a program is about $75,000-100,000. The amount includes compensation and expenses for your surrogate mother and donors (if they participate in the program), medical insurance, payment for the services of the clinic and agency (or only the clinic, if you cooperate without intermediaries), legal and transportation costs, payment for food and accommodation in the chosen country while waiting for the birth of the child and its legalization. 

The cost of surrogacy in the US is significantly higher: future parents will have to spend about $150,000-250,000. It is the difference in price that makes intended parents consider remote surrogacy programs, in which the medical part takes place in one country, and the delivery and legalization of the child takes place in the country of the parents' choice.

Always study the contract with scrupulous attention and ask questions to lawyers. Sometimes the final price may not include some mandatory payments (for example, payment for IVF or lawyers' services for legalization of the newborn). Or the final amount might cover 3 embryo transfers. This means that if pregnancy does not occur or is interrupted after the 3rd embryo transfer, you will have to repay the full amount of the contract to continue the path to parenthood. An unusually low price with suspiciously good conditions is an alarming sign. If the cost of surrogacy is less than $50,000 (less than $125,000 in the US), the offer is almost guaranteed to contain either a major omission (the contract does not include all the necessary services) or is a complete scam aiming to appropriate money from gullible people.

How Much Does a Surrogate Mother Cost

When planning a reproductive program, it is necessary to understand the cost of a surrogate mother. If the program is carried out in a country where commercial surrogacy is legal, the price will comprise approximately a third to a quarter of the total cost of the reproductive program. On average, the cost of surrogate mother services starts at $20,000 ($30,000-$100,000 in the US).

If the reproductive program is carried out in a country where only non-commercial surrogacy is legal, the intended parents will have to compensate the surrogate mother for the expenses incurred during pregnancy instead of paying a fee. On average, payment for surrogacy services (expenses for medical supervision, food, transportation, maternity clothing, insurance and lost wages) will cost $10,000-25,000 ($20,000-30,000 in Canada).

The amount of compensation for expenses incurred in countries with non-commercial SM sometimes exceeds the cost of a surrogate mother in countries where payment of a fee is legal. It is wrong to think that absence of a fee means savings. In countries with altruistic SM, the final cost of the program can be even higher, given the high cost of medical and legal procedures, as well as the lack of guaranteed programs with a fixed price. 

Intended parents should be concerned not only about the cost of surrogacy, but also about the choice of the country where the program will be held. Given the tendency toward a negative perception of surrogacy in some countries (Argentina, Colombia, Portugal) and the latest news about the arrests of intended parents on suspicion of violating the rights of surrogate mothers, their exploitation using their vulnerable financial situation, and sometimes human trafficking, it is worth choosing countries with well-developed, well-established legislation in the field of ART. When the prospect of being left without a baby and going to prison appears, the cost of a surrogate mother loses its importance. What becomes really important is the legal status of her services, confirmed by favorable legislation.

How Much Does Surrogacy with a Guaranteed Birth Cost

As it was mentioned before, we recommended avoiding participation in programs with suspiciously low cost of surrogacy. However, the prospect of paying $70,000+ for each new program in case of unsuccessful embryo transfers does not inspire people who see surrogacy as their last hope to become parents. Participation in guaranteed programs is a successful strategy for optimizing surrogacy costs.

For example, the guaranteed programs of Feskov Human Reproduction Group do not contain any restrictions on the number of embryo transfers: you pay a fixed cost of the program once and you are guaranteed an unlimited number of IVF until pregnancy is achieved and a healthy baby is born. If the embryo transfer does not result in pregnancy or the pregnancy is interrupted, the entire program cycle starts over again at the expense of the clinic and will continue until the child is born and legalized. The cost of medical and legal services, the cost of the surrogate mother, and concierge service for future parents are included in the cost of the program.

The law of Ukraine fully protects the parental rights of the intended parents, legal procedures for the legalization of a newborn have been clearly developed over many years of practice, surrogacy is legal and positively perceived by society. At the same time, the average cost of surrogacy is lower than in most European countries, the USA and Canada with a similar level of reproductive medicine. In addition, thanks to distance programs, you can become parents without even coming to Ukraine!

Thus, guaranteed programs of Feskov Human Reproduction Group offer a reliable way to become parents in 100% of cases, by paying a fixed average price for surrogacy and not worrying about recognition of your parental rights. Ask our manager for a detailed description of our services!